My doctor is concerned I may have MS, any opinions?

[Novella_S]

I went to my doctor and told him I have been having a lot of tingling and numbness and weakness in my extremities but mainly my legs and they feel so heavy especially when I drive. I get random sharp pains around my joints. I am Sooo exhausted all the time. The other morning I woke up, took a shower and got my 3 year old dressed and after my husband left with the kids I had to go back to bed and took a 2 1/2 hour nap and I had a full nights sleep. My doctor had insisted on an MRI twice but I turned it down both times at first due to I was wanting to see if what my blood test came back to see if that would give me any answers. First blood test had high white blood cell count and high red blood cell count. He did another round of blood test that came back normal so now I am going ahead with the MRI. But I don't know how long it will take and I never really knew what multiple sclerosis was before he mentioned it as a concern. Is there any hospitalization with MS? Are there different types of MS?

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Try and keep an open mind about what could be causing you these issues if you can, it genuinely might not be something that is even remotely similar to a neurological condition like MS if your blood tests were abnormal then normal, you have tingling and numbness is all your peripheral limbs and pain around your joints......Multiple Sclerosis literally means many scars and those brain 'and or' spinal cord lesions (scars) typically cause similar types of symptoms as many other medical conditions.

MS can't typically present in all peripheral limbs, it's possible for MS to cause bilateral symptoms in both legs if the cord lesion is unusually large and basically crosses the spinal cord but its much more suggestive/consistent for MS to present with unilateral symptoms (one side eg right leg, right arm and right leg etc). Pain around multiple joints isn't usually an MS issue, when there is a joint problem, it's generally because of an abnormal amount of wear and tear on a specific joint because of a specific issue eg hip and or knee joint pain in the left leg because their abnormal gate from foot drop in their left foot etc.

I don't think there is hospitalization with MS like your probably thinking, MS most commonly has a relapsing and remitting pattern (RRMS 80+%) sometimes, depending on the severity of the relapse and on the specific types of issue it could be, an MSer may require hospitalization but in most circumstances being hospitalized regularly isn't generally the norm with MS.

There are different types of MS, RRMS is by far the most common but i would highly recommend you not become concerned about conditions like MS at this stage....

Hope that helps.......JJ      

[Beth1222]

I am very worried i may have MS after an abnomal MRI monday night. I was informed by the doctor and someone I know that has MS that MS has nothing to do with your blood counts. It is checked through spinal fluid.

[supermum_ms]

Actually an LP with 2+ obands is not necessarily for the diagnosis of MS like it use to be pre 2010, see the latest MS Mcdonald diagnostic criteria for further information

Cheers....JJ